An Early Modern South Asian Thinker on the Rise and Decline of Empires: Shāh Walī Allāh of Delhi, the Mughals, and the Byzantines

Syros, Vasileios

doi:10.1353/jwh.2012.0138

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The implosion of the Mughul Empire after the death of Emperor Aurangazeb in 1707 opened the way for European traders to intervene amongst various fractions of the imploding empire. In turn the political uncertainties gave rise to numerous Indian thinkers, scholars and social reformers like Shah Waliullah Dehlavi (1703-1762), known variously as the Montesquieu, Gibbon and Vico of South Asia (see Abbott 1962, Amir Khan 2014, Syros 2012), Jyotiba Phule (b. 1827-d. 1890 as well as political responses like the Satnami movements (late seventeenth century) and the sanyasi-fakir rebellions (mid-eighteenth century).…”

Section: Whose History?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Conceptual World of the Ghadarites

D'Souza

2018

SS/ES

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The Ghadar movement is framed by scholars variously as socialist or proto-communist, anarchist, secular or religious nationalist. These theoretical frames developed in the European historical contexts to oppose liberalism and modernism. Framing historical experiences of colonialism and resistance to it by using theories developed in radically different conditions of European capitalism and Enlightenment, disrupts history-writing and the historical consciousness of people in the Third World. This paper examines the historical consciousness that guided Ghadar resistance to colonial rule. How are we to understand the distinction between system and ‘lifeworld’ that Jurgen Habermas makes in a context where the ‘system’ is capitalist /imperialist/ modernist and the ‘lifeworld’ is South Asian/ Indian Enlightenment/ colonial? What was the ‘lifeworld’ of the Ghadar leaders that informed their understanding of nationalism and state, secularism and religion, liberation and justice? Theories contribute to creating historical consciousness and identity by showing us a view of the world that we can identify with, by providing a sense of continuity with the past. Disruption of South Asia’s historical consciousness has had profound consequences for the people of the subcontinent. This paper locates the Ghadar movement in the structural transformations of South Asia after the end of the First War of Independence in 1857 known as the Great Ghadar. The paper takes common theoretical lenses used to analyse the Ghadar movement in academic scholarship: secular and ethno-religious nationalism, anarchism and socialism as its point of departure to sketch the theoretical and philosophical routes through which Ghadar leaders arrived at comparable values and political positions. It shows how they could be secular, religious, anarchist and socialist simultaneously. The Ghadar movement is important because it is the last major resistance movement that saw South Asia through South Asian lenses and attempted to address problems of colonialism and national independence in ways that was consistent with Indian historical consciousness and cultural and intellectual traditions.

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Section: Whose History?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Conceptual World of the Ghadarites

D'Souza

2018

SS/ES

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“…This unique theory of al-Dihlawi is treated as data tools (Muhammad, et al, 2011). It shows that al-Dihlawi articulated a naturalistic understanding of the genesis of social life and the evolution of civilization, outlines the factors involved in the decline of the state and the empire, and sets forth a program for dealing with a broad range of emergencies (Syros, 2012).…”

Section: Paradigm Of Discourse Towards Purification Of Mindmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hujjat Allah Al-Balighah: The Uniqueness of Shah Wali Allah Al-Dihlawi’s Work

Othman¹,

Mustafa

Nazri³

et al. 2015

MJSS

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Decline of empires

Reynolds

2016

The Encyclopedia of Empire

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The theme of imperial decline is one that has exerted appeal across time and cultures to intellectuals and broader audiences alike. A number of reasons explain its perennial popularity, ranging from the ostensibly self‐evident importance of the decay of large polities to wonder and schadenfreude at the spectacle of the fall of the high and mighty. In part because of its hoary and nearly universal appeal, the study of the decline of empires is hobbled by several conceptual and methodological problems. Defining and identifying decline is neither simple nor straightforward. One difficulty is confusion over what is meant by empire. Another lies in the definition and measurement of power, which requires making comparisons across both time and space. The application of rigorous methods, however, cannot itself guarantee a clear‐cut or definitive account of imperial decline. Perceptions of decline ultimately depend as much on the observer as on the observed.

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An Early Modern South Asian Thinker on the Rise and Decline of Empires: Shāh Walī Allāh of Delhi, the Mughals, and the Byzantines

Cited by 7 publications

References 103 publications

The Conceptual World of the Ghadarites

The Conceptual World of the Ghadarites

Hujjat Allah Al-Balighah: The Uniqueness of Shah Wali Allah Al-Dihlawi’s Work

Decline of empires

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